lechene



Feb. Q, 1960 LECHENE ROTARY GUTTER BROOM 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed March 3, 1958 INVENTOR. LEO L. LCHN Feb. 9, 1960 L. L. LECHENE 2,923,958

ROTARY CUTTER BROOM Filed March 3, 1958 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 I I1 9 9 INVENTOR.

LEO L. LEcI-IEUE A-r-mRMEV ROTARY GUTTER BROUM Leo L. Lechene, Hazel Park, Mich. Application March a, 1958, Serial No. 718,570

2 Claims. (Cl. 15198) The broom is of the type which is adapted for opera tion by power means and which includes a horizontally disposed head in the shape of a shallow drum from which bristles extend downwardly for contact with pavement and the adjoining gutter. Secured to the head is a shaft extending vertically from the upper surface of said head, the shaft being adapted to be rotated by power means.

The invention is directed to a novel and superior structure,-the structure being of a. kind which permits easy and speedy assembly of the component parts of the broom including said bristles. Eecause of that, the invention results in a great saving of time and labor in the building of a broom as a whole or in the periodical replacement of the bristles due to the wear thereof.

More specifically the invention pertains to novel and useful means for support of the bristles within the head of the bro'orn.

I shall now describe my improvement with reference to the accompanying drawings in which Fig. 1 is a fragmentary perspective view of a power driven truck, the view including a power driven broom of the kind to which my invention is directed.

Fig. 2 is a top elevational view of a segment of an annular housing adapted to contain means which support the bristles of the broom;

Fig. 2a is an end view of the segments;

Fig. 3 is a sectional view taken on line 33 of Fig. 2;

Fig. 4 is a sectional View taken on line 4-4 of Fig. 2;

Fig. 5 is a fragmentary perspective view of a segment of the annular housing;

Fig. 6 is another perspective view of a segment of the annular housing, the view disclosing details of the structural design thereof;

Fig. 7 is a fragmentary perspective view of a rack designed to fit into one segment of the housing;

Fig. 8 is a radial sectional view of a segment of the housing and of the bristle supporting rack in a position for loading of bristles upon said rack;

Fig. 8a is a sectional view on line 8a-8a of Fig. 8;

Fig. 9 is a plan elevational view of a single hair-pin bristles.

Similar numerals refer to similar parts throughout the several views.

The principal elements of the broom include a flat disk 11, disposed horizontally and adapted to be rotated by a power driven shaft 12, an annular housing secured to the underside of the disk, and a rack which supports the bristles of the broom and which is adapted to fit into the housing and to be secured thereto.

The disk 11 is secured to the lower end of the shaft 12 for rotation therewith, said shaft extending upwardly into a tubular sleeve 13 opening at its upper end into a gear housing 14 for engagement with driving elements operated by power means, not shown.

As the invention is restricted to the structure of the broom itself, and the means to rotate the broom are well kno'wn but form no part of this invention, a further description of'the means to rotate said broom are deemed fig 2,923,958

2 unnecessary. I wish to add that the disk is provided with a plurality of vertical holes to which I shall refer again.

The housing, generally identified by numeral 15, is secured to the underside of the disk. It consists of a few component segments which together form an annular trough-like structure open downwardly. It is such a segment that is shown in top elevational view in Fig. 2 and which is illustrated in a perspective view in Figures 5 and 6.

The segment consists of a top fiat wall 16 and two integrally formed side walls 17 and 17a which are disposed parallel to each other, each defining an arc of'90 degrees and two end walls 17b, one of which is shown in Fig. 2a.

The top wall 16 is provided at each end with a plurality of threaded holes 18 in a spaced relation to each other for application of bolts by means of which the segment may be secured to the underside of the disk along the marginal portion thereof. 7

Projecting inwardly into the housing from wall 17a which is the inner wall thereof, are a plurality of wedge shaped deflectors 19. The deflectors are spaced from each other for the purpose 'which I shall presently explain. It will be noted that each deflector tapers in upward direction. The opposite or the outer wall 17 of the housing is provided with similar deflectors 1911 but these taper in a downward direction so that the outer faces of the deflectors on one wall are disposed parallel to the outer faces of the opposed deflectors projecting from the opposite wall, this is best shownin Fig. 8.

Each deflector extending from one wall of the segment is radially aligned with a deflector projecting from the opposite wall to form a pair therewith. In addition, as best shown in Fig. 8, each pair of the deflectors is integrally connected to a transversely dispo'sed horizontal rib 20 on the inner surface of the top wall 16, so that the ribs and the integrally connected deflectors define a plurality of radially disposed pockets 21. Additionally the wall 16 is provided on the underside with a slot 22, extending throu hout the length of the segment in a spaced relation to the walls 17.

The rack which is to fit into the segment is shown in Fig. 7. It includes a stem 23 which has the form of a flat bar curved to a radius so as to define a part of a circle corresponding to the len th of the housing into which the rack is to fit. The bar is defined in part by two parallel side faces marked 24 said bar slanting from the axis of the housing downwardly and outwardly as shown in Figs. 3, 4, and 8.

Projecting horizontally from each side of the stem is a plurality of flat fins 25, each being disposed in a vertical plane, the fins being spaced from each other, and being disposed radially with respect to the center of the annular housing and the plate thereabove. For the purpose of securing the rack to the housing, inwhich the rack is to be placed, the stem is provided with a plurality of th eaded holes 26. wh ch are to be in register with holes.

27 in the too wall of the housing.

It will be noted that the stem extends downwardly to a level below the lower sides of the fins as shown in Fig. 3, and that the vertical threaded hole 26 in said stem extends to the very end of said stern for accommodation length of wire had to be threaded'through pairs of adjoining holes in a plate, and one leg of eachbristle had to be inserted through one hole in a pair, while the ether Fatented F eb. 9,. 1960.

leg of the wire to be inserted through the other hole in the pair; it took considerable time and effort to accomplish this task particularly when more than one length of wire had to be inserted into the same hole.

The invention disclosed herein eliminates all this tedious and lengthy work. The bristles each in the hair-pin form, as shown in Fig. 9, are suspended from the fins of the rack, a plurality of 'such bristles being so suspended from each fin.

, The bristles are loaded upon the rack in the following manner. .The housing of each segment is first suspended from a stationary support in a position in which the top wall will be disposed horizontally while the walls 17 will extend downwardly.

The rack which is to fit into the housing will be next suspended from the housing. This is effected by means of the bolts 28, each of which is thrust from above through a respective hole 27 in the top wall of the housing and only partly threaded into the vertical bore 26 in the stem. As a result thereof, the tops of the individual fins will be spaced from the lower rims of the two side walls 17. This is shown in Fig. 8.

While the rack is so suspended below the segment of the housing, a plurality of hair-pin bristles are loaded upon each fin in such a manner that the looped portion 31 of each bristle will fit over the top of the fin, the two legs of the bristle straddling said fin and extending downwardly. As there is a free access to each of the fins and as the bristles have to be simply placed upon the fins in the manner described above, the loading of the rack is speedy and easy.

The. spacing of the fins from each other and their length is suchthat any number of such wire bristles may be loaded upon each fin within the capacity limits of the structure. This feature permits building of brooms with either densely compacted bristles or with bristles less crowded on the respective fins.

After the rack has been loaded with the bristles, it is drawn up into the housing by means of said bolts 28 by the simple expedient of threading each bolt in its respective bore to the depth necessary for the purpose. It will be understood that each of the fins will fit one of the free spaces between two adjoining deflectors within the housing, and that the fins will be brought up into the housing till the looped portions 31 of the bristles will enter the individual pocketsv 21 between the horizontal transverse ribs 20. The upper portion of the stem 23 will fit into the slot ,22. It is by means of the same bolts that the upper end of the fins will be caused to clamp the bristles against the underside of the wall 16 thus securing the bristles against displacement.

After the racks have been loaded with the bristles and secured within the respective segments of the casing, the segments themselves will be secured to the underside of the plate 11. This will be effected by means of bolts 33 which will be inserted from above into holes in said plate and threaded into holes 18 in the respective segments.

. I shall now refer again to the deflectors 19 and 19a within the housing into which the racks have been drawn up. As shown in the drawings, these deflectors project into the spaces between the fins 25 where they bear against the bristles 30, deflecting them outwardly from the center of the completed broom that is from the center of the, annular housing in which the racks are located. his as the result of this arrangement of parts that the bristles of the completed bro'om flare outwardly as best shown in Fig. 1.

*While the above description refers to a housing composed of a few segments it will be understood that the housing may be made in one piece in an annular shape, but mayreceive a plurality of short arcuate racks in an end toend relation to form a complete circular rack. Or, if desired, the rack mayalso be made in one annular piec'e'to fit'into the housing whether the latter is made of a fewscgments win one annular piece.

It will be further be understood that some other changes may be made in the structure of the broom without departing beyond the inventive concept disclosed herein. What I therefore wish to claim is as follows:

1. A rotary gutter broom comprising a horizontally disposed disk shaped plate, means on said plate to secure to the central portion thereof a shaft for rotation therewith, an annular housing removably secured to the peripheral portion of the plate on the underside thereof, the housing being composed of a plurality of segments in end to end abutment, each segment including a top wallfor abutment with the plate, two vertical end walls and two side walls in parallel relation to each other, one being the outer wall and the other being the inner wall, each wall having on its inner side a plurality of wedgelike deflcctors spaced from each other and projecting into the interior space of the segment radially with respect to the center of the plate, the outer end faces of the deflectors slanting downwardly and outwardly from said center of the plate, a rack fitting into each segment, the rack inrespective side wall, a plurality of U-shaped bristles sus.--

pended from each fin, each bristle including a looped portion hooked over the top of the fin, and bolt means ex-- tending from the top wall of each segment and threaded into vertical bores in the stem of ,the rack contained.

within said segment to draw the rack with the bristles against the top wall of said segment.

2. A rotary gutter broom including a circular diskshaped plate horizontally disposed and provided with a plurality of bolt receiving holes along its periphery, a shaft extending from the center of the plate upwardly for connection to power means for the operation of the broom, an annular housing secured to the underside of the plate by bolts inserted through the above named holes, the housing having the form of a downwardly open trough defined by a top wall and two side walls, a plurality of arcuate racks in end to end arrangement to complete an annular structure adapted to fit into said annular housing, each rack including a fiat stem slanting transversely to its length downwardly and outwardly from the center of the annular housing, the stem being provided with vertical bores therein, a plurality of fins extending from each side of the stern towards the respective side walls of the housing, the fins being spaced from each other, a plurality of bristles suspended from each fin, each bristle being U-shaped and including a looped portion hoo'ked over the top of the fin, and two legs extending downwardly out of the housing, a plurality of deflectors extend-.

ing from each wall of the housing inwardly towards the stem, each deflector fitting between two adjoining fins of-the rack, the end faces of the fins slanting downwardly and outwardly from the center of the annular housing, and bolt means threaded into the bores of the stem and extending from the top wall of the housing to draw-the rack against said top wall.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS' 

